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‘You name it and you can find a project’ Santa Barbara construction industry thrives amid coronavirus pandemic
DAVE MASON / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
The COVID-19 pandemic prevented any gatherings on campus, but UCSB celebrated commencement Saturday with an online celebration.
‘United in excitement’ UCSB holds online ceremony to honor Class of 2020
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
By JORGE MERCADO
Construction is under way at De la Guerra and Santa Barbara streets. Projects have thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By CHRISTIAN WHITTLE
It’s ironic that notable UC Santa Barbara alumnus Jack Johnson picked his song “Better Together” to sing to UCSB students on what would have
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have disrupted every part of life and every business in Santa Barbara County, but one industry has remained strong amid closures and uncertainty. Despite some disruptions and adjustments to new public health standards, Santa Barbara’s construction firms have managed to keep a majority of workers employed on various projects around the county. “Probably one of the shining lights in this whole thing has been construction,” said Kurt Bueche, territory manager for Giffin Rentals. Giffin Rentals, Goleta’s oldest business, buys, sells and rents all kinds of construction equipment, including excavators, backhoes, and trucks. It has continued supporting Santa Barbara’s many construction firms throughout the pandemic. Throughout the last few months, Giffin has rented equipment to grocery store projects, retirement homes, street work, and even Granite Construction’s massive five year, 12.5 mile highway expansion project in Carpinteria for Caltrans. “You name it and you can find a project. There is a lot of construction going on,” said Randy Dvorak, Giffin’s sales director. Throughout the pandemic, Lash Construction is completing municipal projects from the city’s Eastside to the Mesa in Santa Barbara. Some projects, like a water-main replacement, were paused to keep water from being shut off during the crisis, but Lash’s street projects have continued as planned. “We’re doing concrete work on Cota, on the Mesa, on Hope, on La Cumbre. Paving on the Eastside. Really all over town in various locations. Right now we’re working up on the Mesa Lane area where we’re replacing handicap ramps. We have a waterline crew on Anacapa Street at Cabrillo and we were allowed to finish a water
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been their commencement day — but also strangely fitting. On a day where hundreds of UCSB seniors would usually be gathered by the commencement green to celebrate the incredible accomplishment of graduating Please see UCSB on A8
UCSB student Courtney Chan addresses graduates and shares her unusual journey to UCSB through a video that was part of the virtual commencement.
Lash Construction was able to continue work on a water main at Anacapa Street and Cabrillo Boulevard. Although some workers were laid off, the majority of Lash’s employees have seen steady work throughout the pandemic.
main we were doing on Cabrillo Boulevard because everything was so dead down there for so long,” said Alan Lash, vice president of Lash Construction. Other major projects include the new Sprouts Farmers Market and shopping center remodel at 29 S. Milpas St. For a little over a year, Frank Schipper Construction has been demolishing the interior of the Trader Joe’s, Petco and a tobacco shop that previously occupied the location, and is now in phase two of building a brand new facade on the entire shopping center that includes the Rite Aid and Jack’s Bistro Famous Bagels & Catering. Work has been consistent, but it has not been smooth sailing for many firms.
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NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
At Lash Construction, the delays on some municipal projects forced the firm to temporarily lay off onethird of its workers. “It’s not like these were guys we didn’t like or they weren’t good employees, it’s just that we didn’t simply have the work for them and we thought it was fairer to just have them be on unemployment and know what they were going to expect every week,” said Mr. Lash. When the pandemic first hit, several of Schipper Construction’s projects apart from 29 S. Milpas St. were put on hold, and about eight of their personnel were let go for a month. However, as the uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic has abated, those projects have started to move forward in the last few weeks.
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“We were really fortunate because really in all this we were able to get back five to six of (our employees) already. We got them back about three weeks ago, so we’re building our workforce back up,” said Gary Church, superintendent for Frank Schipper Construction. Although there were some workers furloughed, the majority have remained employed, and those that were on unemployment have begun to return. “For the most part our key guys are working,” said Mr. Lash. “We’re fortunate in our industry to have been working. It’s kept all our guys sane not sitting at home.” The Milpas project has 60 to 70 workers employed at the site, Please see CONSTRUCTION on A3
SB Chamber hosts webinar on paycheck protection amendments By CHRISTIAN WHITTLE NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
As businesses around the country continue to reopen and bring employees back to work, Congress has passed amendments to the CARES Act and Paycheck Protection Program that will give borrowers more flexibility over how to spend loan money. To help local business owners navigate the changes, the Santa Barbara County Chambers of Commerce hosted a webinar Wednesday featuring Jennings Imel, executive director of the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Western Regional Office, and Tony Vallejo, a partner at Nicholson & Schwartz Certified Public Accountants. Despites months of financial stress and economic fears due to COVID-19, Mr. Imel began by highlighting the positive news that has come out in recent weeks. Just last week, the Department of Labor announced that the national unemployment rate had dropped to 13.3%, as 2.5 million jobs were added to the economy. “Frankly, the Paycheck Please see WEBINAR on A7
LOTTERY RESULTS Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 3-11-20-25-46 Meganumber: 21 Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 9-14-57-67-70 Meganumber: 2 Saturday’s DAILY DERBY: 06-09-10 TIME: 1:42.87 Saturday’s Daily 3: 5-0-1 / Evening: 7-4-3
Saturday’s DAILY 4: 1-5-6-2 Saturday’s FANTASY 5: 10-14-15-22-26 Saturday’s POWERBALL: 10-33-41-52-54 Meganumber: 18